Maybe Later

It’s easy to have a goal this New Year. It’s easy to make lists and stick motivational notes on our mirrors, but most of the time, and we know the cycle well, time and life and laundry get in the way, and our “Let’s do this” becomes “Maybe later.”

Maybe you want to write a book, but just can’t find the time. Maybe you want to go back to school, but can’t make it to the application. Maybe you want to start a new career, but just don’t know where to begin.

Don’t let “Maybe later” block the goal.

The disciples didn’t tell Jesus “maybe later” when he asked them to follow him. They dropped their nets then and there and went with Christ. I want that kind of faith. If God is calling you to do bigger and scarier things this year, drop your nets and go.

You won’t win this year with inspirational messages and to-do lists. The book of Joshua gives us a glorious picture of our need for God. Just before Joshua is going to lead the Israelites into Jericho, they come to the Jordan. I imagine this not as a bubbling creek, but as a thundering river with alligators, something the Israelites saw and said, “Really? You led us to this? Why would you send us here Lord? We don’t want to swim across this. Camels cannot swim Lord!”

So God tells Joshua to send the priests out in front, carrying the Ark of the Covenant. “Follow it,” he says. “Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.”

The priests step out, the river parts and the Israelites safely pass.

In every change in my life, I’ve never been that way before and I find myself asking why God would want me to do this. The only way I’m going to cross the river is if I follow that covenant, if I hang onto the Lord’s promise that he’s going to take care of me.

I’m suffering. I’m tired. I’ve lost hope. And that’s OK. That’s where we get something non-believers don’t — a way out, a river parted, a wonderful God.